UC San Diego

As spatial sound technology becomes more accessible, interest among theatrical sound designers and composers continues to steadily grow. Techniques range from properly delaying a speaker system to sonically image to the stage to creating virtual sound sources moving around a space in continuous patterns. This thesis presents a methodology to create spatial sound systems, explains how a number of spatial sound techniques are implemented, provides best practices on utilizing spatial algorithms, and explores example use cases. Example use cases range from a small theater production to a spatial sound-based cellphone application. In addition to the technical side, I explore spatial audio as an artistic medium for expression.